Meet at the West Pole: Yuletide fun extends through new year

Old Tucson’s Yuletide experience used to end Christmas Eve. However, the family-oriented theme park has extended the Yuletide fun.
“We’re keeping the Yuletide event going,” said Ken Korpi, Old Tucson entertainment manager.
“It’s a Western Christmas adventure, so why not keep it going into the New Year? We have four times as many Christmas lights as last year. We have a magic show with all original content, a stunt show, an original musical, an amazing light show to the music of Mannheim Steamroller.
“This production has been a massive undertaking. We created all of this from the ground up. We want to keep this going since the kids will still be out of school on New Year's Eve. They can come here to a magical place to celebrate the holidays.”
The Yuletide experience is extended to Jan. 4. “We’re open on New Year’s Day so we’ll have Yuletide going then and beyond.”
Korpi, who has been entertainment manager at Old Tucson for two years, has rebranded the park as “The West Pole.” “It’s Western Christmas,” Korpi said. “I just think this is the coolest place.”
Korpi has felt this way since he traveled to Tucson on vacation from Michigan when he was 14 years old for Spring Break.
“I was just fascinated with Old Tucson from that point on,” he said. “I’ve always been a film buff and to think about the films that were shot here, like ‘Tombstone’ and legendary television shows like ‘Gunsmoke.’ Think about how Frank Sinatra and John Wayne used to walk these streets. There's so much history here. To come here and work here as an adult in my 30s is pretty awesome.”
Korpi left Hollywood for Old Tucson in 2022 as a writer-director. “And now I’m entertainment director and I get to work on the Christmas production and ‘Nightfall,’ the Halloween production,” Korpi said.
“It’s so cool, not just for me, but for everyone who comes out to Old Tucson. We just want everyone to have a great time, and I think they’ll really enjoy spending New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day at Old Tucson.”
Korpi said he hopes more films will be shot in Tucson and at Old Tucson. “The most recognizable thing that’s been done here is ‘Tombstone’ and that was shot years ago (1993). Tucson kind of fell off the map for a while, but I'm hopeful it comes back. Old Tucson is a great place to shoot a film and for anyone to come out to experience.”